School of the Week: Cwm Primary School

The school was originally based at the other end of the village, but it was located under a slag heap so the site was moved to its present site in response to the Aberfan disaster in 1966.

The school provides education for 244 boys and girls from the age of three to 11 years.

Head teacher Rhian Astley feels the school plays a vital role in its locality, and hopes the school can develop this relationship further in the future.

She said: “The school is very inclusive and serves the community of Cwm, but we do have people from outside coming here. Cwm is a very distinct valley and the school is at the heart of the village.

“We have very supportive parents and fantastic staff that really care for the children. We want to get more involved in the community and we recently started a community walking group and that was a follow on from our keep fit programme.”

Health and wellbeing is central to many of the school’s activities, not only physical health but mental health too.

The school use the Thrive Programme, which is described as a psychological training programme that boosts students’ resilience, self-esteem and self-confidence. They have a room where pupils can have one-to-one time or take part in informal social groups.

“The social groups learn to interact and learn things like taking turns and good behaviour. We invested in the Thrive programme two years ago and we have two trained members of staff .

“Mrs James does social groups and sessions where children can come and chat to her, which is very popular. It means the children feel safe and know where they can go to if they need help.

“What might seem trivial to us can seem a big worry to a child. There are also ‘worry monsters’ where they can post their worries with their names on, or they can do it anonymously, and Mrs James will follow it up.”

The children take part in daily exercise in their Get Fit Together session. They use online videos that turn movements into a game to make fitness fun for children.

“It all started when we went to see another school in the Rhondda and they’d started a keep fit programme with a free resource called GoNoodle, so we decided to set it up along similar lines and expand it in other ways. Out of our pupil deprivation grant we thought it would be good if we bought all the pupils pedometers so they could monitor their own progress.

“We started with walking, and now we have a walking and running group and it has made the children competitive because they like to see who has done the most steps. They do a lot of maths with them and we have seen their numeracy skills come on because it’s real life.”

With so much nature surrounding the school, they make extensive use of their large grounds with outside teaching areas and mud kitchens. Teacher Emma Cross is forest school trained and pupils will take part in classes outside on a Friday afternoon that are based on literacy and numeracy.

The school won the Blaenau Gwent Wildlife Quiz Champions with a team made up of 10-year-old Ethan Davies, 11-year-old Olivia Selway, 11-year-old Ieuan King and 11-year-old Daniel Brookman.

Mrs Astley said: “Anyone could try out for the quiz team and these four were chosen for the team. As the Blaenau Gwent winners they then competed in the Gwent finals Abergavenny on Tuesday.” (March 21).

When the Argus visited the school Philip Michell, of Skirrid Mountain Productions had come to work with pupils. The children also go on a range of visits and then write about their experiences back in the classroom.

The school are involved in a raising aspirations programme where Year 6 Pupils visit a university because so they can see what they can be when they get older.

“Our ethos at the school is for the pupils to have fun, to have good self-esteem and be good citizens when they leave with good aspirations and believing in themselves.

“We genuinely want the children to shine in whatever they do, it’s not just about test results. We do appreciate the whole rounded child.”